The Collapse of the WTC Not Caused
by Jet Fuel

KEVIN RYAN / Underwriters
Laboratories 11nov04

The following letter was sent today by Kevin Ryan of Underwriters
Laboratories to Frank Gayle of the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST). Underwriters Laboratories is the company that certified the
steel components used in the construction of the World Trade Center towers. The
information in this letter is of great importance.

Dr. Gayle,

Having recently reviewed your team's report of 10/19/04, I felt the need to
contact you directly.

As I'm sure you know, the company I work for certified the steel components
used in the construction of the WTC buildings. In requesting information from
both our CEO and Fire Protection business manager last year, I learned that they
did not agree on the essential aspects of the story, except for one thing - that
the samples we certified met all requirements. They suggested we all be patient
and understand that UL was working with your team, and that tests would continue
through this year. I'm aware of UL's attempts to help, including performing
tests on models of the floor assemblies. But the results of these tests appear
to indicate that the buildings should have easily withstood the thermal stress
caused by pools of burning jet fuel.

There continues to be a number of "experts" making public claims
about how the WTC buildings fell. One such person, Dr. Hyman Brown from the WTC
construction crew, claims that the buildings collapsed due to fires at 2000F
melting the steel (1). He states "What caused the building to collapse is
the airplane fuel…burning at 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The steel in that
five-floor area melts." Additionally, the newspaper that quotes him says
"Just-released preliminary findings from a National Institute of Standards
and Technology study of the World Trade Center collapse support Brown’s
theory."

We know that the steel components were certified to ASTM E119. The time
temperature curves for this standard require the samples to be exposed to
temperatures around 2000F for several hours. And as we all agree, the steel
applied met those specifications. Additionally, I think we can all agree that
even un-fireproofed steel will not melt until reaching red-hot temperatures of
nearly 3000F (2). Why Dr. Brown would imply that 2000F would melt the high-grade
steel used in those buildings makes no sense at all.

The results of your recently published metallurgical tests seem to clear
things up (3), and support your team's August 2003 update as detailed by the
Associated Press (4), in which you were ready to "rule out weak steel as a
contributing factor in the collapse." The evaluation of paint deformation
and spheroidization seem very straightforward, and you noted that the samples
available were adequate for the investigation. Your comments suggest that the
steel was probably exposed to temperatures of only about 500F (250C), which is
what one might expect from a thermodynamic analysis of the situation.

However the summary of the new NIST report seems to ignore your findings, as
it suggests that these low temperatures caused exposed bits of the building’s
steel core to "soften and buckle." (5) Additionally this summary
states that the perimeter columns softened, yet your findings make clear that
"most perimeter panels (157 of 160) saw no temperature above 250C." To
soften steel for the purposes of forging, normally temperatures need to be
above1100C (6). However, this new summary report suggests that much lower
temperatures were be able to not only soften the steel in a matter of minutes,
but lead to rapid structural collapse.

This story just does not add up. If steel from those buildings did soften or
melt, I’m sure we can all agree that this was certainly not due to jet fuel
fires of any kind, let alone the briefly burning fires in those towers. That
fact should be of great concern to all Americans. Alternatively, the contention
that this steel did fail at temperatures around 250C suggests that the majority
of deaths on 9/11 were due to a safety-related failure. That suggestion should
be of great concern to my company.

There is no question that the events of 9/11 are the emotional driving force
behind the War on Terror. And the issue of the WTC collapse is at the crux of
the story of 9/11. My feeling is that your metallurgical tests are at the crux
of the crux of the crux. Either you can make sense of what really happened to
those buildings, and communicate this quickly, or we all face the same
destruction and despair that come from global decisions based on disinformation
and “chatter”.

Thanks for your efforts to determine what happened on that day. You may know
that there are a number of other current and former government employees that
have risked a great deal to help us to know the truth. I've copied one of these
people on this message as a sign of respect and support. I believe your work
could also be a nucleus of fact around which the truth, and thereby global peace
and justice, can grow again. Please do what you can to quickly eliminate the
confusion regarding the ability of jet fuel fires to soften or melt structural
steel.

Dr. Frank W. Gayle is leading the team of experts addressing the steel
forensics aspects of NIST's investigation of the World Trade Center collapses.
His team is evaluating steel recovered from the WTC site to determine its
quality, mechanical properties, and behavior under impact and high temperature
conditions.

Dr. Gayle currently serves as Deputy Chief of the Metallurgy Division in the
NIST Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory and as Group Leader for the
Division's Materials Structure and Characterization Group. His work at NIST has
covered a range of metallurgical research addressing metals characterization and
structure-property relationships. He holds several patents and has published
over 50 archival research articles.

Dr. Gayle holds a Doctor of Science degree in Metallurgy from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (1985). He also earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil
Engineering (1975) and a Master of Science in Materials Science (1976) from Duke
University. Dr. Gayle spent 11 years in industry at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft
and Reynolds Metals Company in the field of alloy development for aerospace
applications prior to coming to NIST.